McSweeney's Issue 68

Coming this October, the 68th issue of our National Magazine Award-winning McSweeney's Quarterly features stories of duplicity and deception, double lives and secret histories, waiting for you underneath a cover by Italian artist Daniele Castellano (inspired by the Roman god Janus depicting duality in its many forms). Inside, readers will find an essay by Alejandro Zambra on soccer sadness; an epic, time-bending short story from Carmen Maria Machado ; and new work from National Book Award finalist Lisa Ko . Like all editions of McSweeney's, this issue includes work from established contemporary talents ( Catherine Lacey , Andrew Martin , Laura van den Berg ) alongside fresh emerging voices ( Stephanie Ullmann , Hallie Gayle ). Readers will find new translations of Peruvian writer Santiago Roncagliolo and Italian novelist Andrea Bajani , and a little diamond of flash fiction by James Yeh . Compiled by visiting editor Daniel Gumbiner , McSweeney's Issue 68 offers a host of delights and surprises, from some of the world's best writers. Always changing, each issue of the quarterly is completely redesigned (there have been hardcovers and paperbacks, an issue with two spines, an issue with a magnetic binding, an issue that looked like a bundle of junk mail, and an issue that looked like a sweaty human head), but always brings you the very best in new literary fiction.